The war, taxation and the Blackpool Tower Company

This paper explores the impact of the Great War on the Blackpool Tower Company (BTC), in particular on profits and taxation. It uses archival material on BTC to chart the impact on it of wartime imposed excess profits duty (EPD) and entertainments tax (ET) and the extent of its disclosures to shareholders on these and related subjects. BTC reacted to increased profits and new taxes by investing surpluses in War Loan, by varying dividends, and by reducing distributable profits through transfers to declared and secret reserves. It did not fully disclose to shareholders the impact of either EPD or ET.